This page states what a resident agrees to, in plain words. A lawyer writes the final founder agreement before Landing. Until then, this is the part you can read.
Terms from Build w/ Strangers, the operator of this site and of every build on it. Last updated 2 November 2026.
Everything made for a build belongs to its company and stays there when anyone leaves, the crew included.
During Orbit the company does not exist yet. Build w/ Strangers holds every asset in the build’s name, and moves all of it into the new company the week it lands. If the build stops, the assets stay with Build w/ Strangers.
The .com, every redirect, the email on it
Registered to the company, never to a person. The company pays the renewals.
Repositories, infrastructure, models, data pipelines
In the company’s own repository. The crew’s code too: the crew owns shares, not the code.
Handles, pages, channels, newsletters, their followers
Company handles belong to the company. Residents get admin access, not ownership.
Name, logo, designs, copy, photos, video
Owned by the company from the day it is made, whoever made it.
Contracts, customer lists, the pipeline, every conversation
Customers sign with the company. Payments land in the company’s account.
Playbooks, pricing sheets, decks, research, docs
What you wrote down for the build stays with the build.
When you leave, you hand over every login and admin right during your two weeks’ notice. The company removes your access on your last day. Your vested shares stay yours.
A seat is one role on a build. It is unpaid during Orbit, the 30-day trial run. Equity is granted at Landing (day 30, or day 60 after a second Orbit). Your slice is on the cap table from then, unvested, and vests over 2 years with a 3-month cliff. The shares, the pool and the schedule are on The deal.
Every residency ends one of three ways: you leave, the crew recalls you, or the build stops. Read how each one works on the residency page.
Only a company that has landed pays the tail. For deals you closed while a resident, you get 10% of the revenue they bring in, for 12 months after you leave. It covers those deals only, not the whole company. If the build stops before Landing, or the company closes, there is no tail. More on the tail.
A Signal is a problem you send the crew, with proof that people want it. A Signal is not confidential. There is no NDA, and the crew may already be building something similar, or may build something similar later. If the crew builds from your Signal, you get a spark share: 1% of the company, taken from the 10% pool, separate from seat equity and fully vested when the build lands. If you part ways in Orbit, you keep it as long as the build goes on to land. If the product never works, the crew shelves the build and you have the first right to take the idea back. The code stays with Build w/ Strangers. How a Signal works.
They are not the founder agreement. A lawyer writes that before Landing, and you sign it then. Until then this page is the plain-words version. The Handshake is the one-page shared plan filled in on day zero of Orbit. It is not a contract, with one exception: one line is a binding IP assignment, which says everything made for the build belongs to its company. You sign that line on day zero of Orbit, and the same line goes into the founder agreement at Landing.
Something unclear? Write to crew@buildwithstrangers.com. What this site does with your data is on the privacy page.